


In the Middle of the Night

by Zoja



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24393475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoja/pseuds/Zoja
Summary: Coming to her office and ‘disturbing’ her to make sure she took a break or ate something had always been his habit and became a norm after they got together. He knew exactly what she was like when she was focused on her work and it wasn’t this.
Relationships: John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir
Kudos: 21





	In the Middle of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little bit of proof that I can write stories that are not full of sadness, tragedy and grief. It started with a friend of mine giving me a prompt (the pick-up line) to inspire me to write something fluffy. It's not something I'm good at, but I guess practice makes perfect. 
> 
> The timeline for this is alternate season 5, with the assumption that Elizabeth is alive and well.
> 
> No beta as always, so forgive me for my mistakes :) Enjoy!

It was well after midnight when John found himself walking through the corridors of Atlantis, heading towards Elizabeth’s office. It might have been a normal occurrence about two years ago, at the beginning of their relationship, but it had been well over a year since the last time he had to drag her away from work to get some rest and it made him feel worried.

He knew she was angry with him, which was why he did his best to stay out of her way for most of the day but now, he couldn’t help wondering if there was more to it. It would explain her slipping back to her bad habits, which she had made a good progress working on, and why she seemed to have really overreacted when he got in trouble during his last mission, even though it was nowhere near the worst situation he had found himself in over the past five years.

He rounded the last corner and just like he expected, he saw that the light in her office was still on. Leaning against the doorway, he watched as she stared at a picture of some ruins and even though she gave no such indication, he had no doubts that she knew he was there. Somehow, she had always been able to sense him and he couldn’t see any reason why it should be different this time.

His suspicions that something was wrong got confirmed when, after a couple of minutes, she still refused to acknowledge his presence. If he hadn’t known her as well as he did, he would probably have figured that she was working on a part of a text which was particularly difficult to translate, but he wasn’t fooled. Coming to her office and ‘disturbing’ her to make sure she took a break or ate something had always been his habit and became a norm after they got together. He knew exactly what she was like when she was focused on her work and it wasn’t this. The fact that she didn’t raise her hand to prevent him from speaking until she shifted her attention to him was probably the most obvious sign, but there were others, smaller ones that only increased his concern because he knew this Elizabeth, too.

It was the same Elizabeth that he had gotten to know quite well over the first three years of their stay in the city. The one who always hid in her work, tried to avoid facing whatever was bothering her and absolutely refused to let anyone see her emotions. It was something he had never been able to understand; this weird belief of her that showing her emotions would somehow undermine her position as a leader. She was simply human after all and was moved by everything that was happening around her just like everyone else. He thought he had managed to get her to see it too, especially that she really began to share her thoughts and worries with him, letting him be there for her and the knot in his stomach twisted tighter because whatever happened, that made her hide even from him, couldn’t be good.

“Do you know what time it is?” he asked and sighed, when the entire response he received was a hum. “Are you sure you’re not tired? Because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”

That, of course, prompted a reaction. He could see the exact moment she registered what he said because her head snapped up and she looked at him incredulously.

“Did you just use a cheesy pick up line on me?”

He had found out at the very beginning of their relationship that Elizabeth had always thought those pick up lines to be ridiculous, and that it was simply an extension of the fact that she wasn’t a big fan of anything mushy in general. It was something he really loved about her because he had always been terrible at mawkish stuff and it turned out to be a problem in almost any serious relationship that he had in his life. Elizabeth understood that he wasn’t good at emotions, especially at speaking about them, and she didn’t need him to assure her of his undying love every single day, seeming quite happy to accept his own way of expressing his feelings. That, however, didn’t prevent him from slipping some cheesy lines into their conversations every now and then, especially when he wanted to tease her or to unload the tension and make her laugh.

“It got your attention, didn’t it?” he pointed out as he walked inside and sat down on the corner of her desk. “Come on, talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about” she immediately said and the wince that crossed her face for a fraction of a second revealed that even she realized that she did that a little too quickly.

“Lizbeth…”

“What do you want me to say, John?” she asked and he swallowed, when she looked at him in a way that left very little doubts that he was responsible for whatever was bothering her. “That I’m angry? Well, how do you think it made me feel when Woolsey recalled my team back to the city and told me that my fiancé had landed himself in prison for making inappropriate advances towards the cherished daughter of the village chief?”

“We’re talking about a five year old, who seemed terrified of us when we arrived! And all I did was smile, hoping she would see that we’re friendly!” he defended himself, looking at her in disbelief. “Come on, Liz, you can’t possibly be holding that against me!”

“I’m not” she sighed, standing up and wrapping her arms around him, while John’s eyebrows furrowed as he failed to follow her thoughts. “I know you, John. You flirt your way into women’s good graces and use your charm to get what you want, that’s just the way you are with any woman in any galaxy and it doesn’t really mean anything. You’re not playful like this when you really want it to mean something” she smiled, taking advantage of the fact that he was still perched on the edge of her desk, which eliminated their height difference, and pressed a quick, gentle kiss to his lips.

“I’m not sure I should be glad that you know that or offended that you just called me a flirt” he mumbled, wrapping his arms around her and grinned, feeling proud of himself when he noticed her chuckle. “So… What’s the real problem?”

“Evan really didn’t tell you anything?” she asked and the confusion on his face was the entire answer she needed. “And here I thought you wanted me on his team so that he could spy on me.”

“More like begged him to accept you so that you wouldn’t kill me for being the reason why everyone was scared to have you on their team” laughed John, winking at her playfully. “So, what is it that he didn’t tell me about?”

“In my defense, it was before I found out what actually happened but… I might have overreacted a little when Woolsey told me about the trouble you’ve run into and scared everyone half to death when I made the jumper go haywire in the middle of the flight” she admitted bashfully. “And before you start panicking as well, nothing happened” she added quickly.

“That’s… actually impossible” said John, unable to shake off an impression that the more she explained, the more confused he was.

“Yeah, this is exactly what I told Evan when he said that I should try to control my emotions better if I don’t want it to go crazy like that again” she smirked. “He made me think, though and I realized that it’s not just the jumper. The flickering lights, the doors going crazy… I think I might have actually activated something off-world, but we figured it was Evan since he was standing right next to me.”

“I hate to state the obvious, but you need the gene to do all that and you’re actually the only one on that team who doesn’t have it.”

“No, but as was pointed out to me, you do.” 

“How do I have anything to do with it? I wasn’t even anywhe…” he halted, when his mind began to catch up with what she seemed to be trying to say. He blamed it on the fact that it was late and it had been a long, eventful and very stressful day that it took him so long to figure it out and think of the only way in which he could somehow have anything to do with her suddenly displaying signs of having the gene, even though it was completely impossible. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah… After we returned from our – ekhem – rescue mission, Evan pretty much forced me to go to the infirmary so that Jennifer could check if his suspicions are correct. Threatened to take me off his team because he couldn’t risk a repeat of what happened with the jumper.”

“I can’t blame him but… wow” John grinned goofily.

“I know… I realize we figured why not but it’s still a little overwhelming... And a bit terrifying…” she admitted. “I mean, if you can get into so much trouble, I’m already scared to think of what a mini you might be capable of.”

“Come on, Lizbeth! I’m not that bad!” he exclaimed, pretending to be offended but he sighed exaggeratedly, admitting defeat. “Okay, you're right, it might be safer to hope he or she takes after you. Still… Can you imagine Rodney’s face when he realizes that he needs to babyproof Atlantis?” he asked and Elizabeth had to smile when she saw the grin come back to his face.

“You do remember what we talked about _after_ I said yes to your suggestion that you wanted one too when Torren was born? Or did your mind stop registering after you got me to agree to it?” she teased. “They might force me to return to Earth.”

“I know, and I meant what I said back then. I came with you to this galaxy, and I’ll go back with you to Earth. Still, if the kid’s gene is already strong enough to influence the technology around through you, I think they might want to keep us around. That’s the reason you brought me here, after all” he wiggled his eyebrows as he pulled her closer for a kiss.

Elizabeth’s mouth fell open when she realized what she had gotten herself into. The teasing about her having chosen him only for his genes was already bad enough, and she could only imagine that – knowing their friends – it would actually get worse. Yet, when she looked at the pure joy on his face, she knew she could live with it.


End file.
